GMAC, union reject workers' pay report

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

Written by Chun Sophal and Hor Hab
Monday, 25 May 2009

A RECENT report that claims a liveable minimum wage for garment workers in Cambodia should be US$90 per month has been criticised by both trade unionists and employers.

The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC), which represents about 250 garment factories, and the Free Trade Union (FTU), representing 80,000 garment workers in Cambodia, rejected the findings of the report released Wednesday by the Cambodia Institute of Development Study (CIDS).

The study of 353 workers in 47 factories around Phnom Penh showed garment workers could maintain a good standard of living providing they earned at least $90 per month.

The current minimum wage for a garment worker is $50 per month, although workers can earn up to $66 per month with bonuses and allowances, plus more for overtime.

Cheath Khemara, labour issue officer at GMAC, said Sunday the association could not accept the study because the research was based on garment workers' expenses and did not take into account the worker productivity needed to keep factories profitable.

"It's not a good thing that they wish to raise workers' wages while their productivity is still low," Cheath Khemara said.

"If our workers had high productivity to help factories earn more profit, factories would be able to increase their wages to a higher level."

He said the financial crisis and informal expenses were already of great concern to garment factories, and the push for higher wages would create an additional threat to the sector.

Chea Mony, president of FTU, said Sunday he did not agree with the findings because they did not align with real inflation.

"We would never consider that a $90 wage is a suitable living wage for workers, because they have to spend a lot on their healthcare, children, clothes and other things," Chea Mony said. "We don't reject the research statistics, but we hope CIDS can help garment workers ask for wage rise to align with their research study.

"I think garment workers could have a suitable standard of living as long as they could get more than $100 per month," Chea Mony said.

Tun Sophorn, National Coordinator for International Legal Organisation Cambodia, said Sunday that although the research conducted by CIDS showed what was needed for garment workers to have good living conditions, it was not easy for employers to increase salaries to the required level while they faced constraints from the economic crisis.

"I think it will be difficult for factories to meet workers' demands based on this research, but I hope that this suggestion can be met if the economic situation improves in the future," Tun Sophorn said.

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We hope that if garment workers received $90 ... per month, they would be motivated to work harder.
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The CIDS study, conducted with support from German NGO Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, showed basic expenses such as food, transportation, clothing, and healthcare for each worker was $72 per month, which included $57 for personal expenses and $15 for family.

However, a wage of $72 per month would not be sufficient as a livable wage, the report said.

CIDS Director Kang Chandararot said Sunday the research aimed to provide a clear picture of the situation for garment workers. Both unions and GMAC could use this in negotiating a suitable wage for workers, he added.

"Our main purpose is to contribute to the sustainable development of the garment sector in order to compete with other countries in the future," Kang Chandararot said. "We hope that if garment workers received $90 in wages per month, they would be motivated to work harder to increase their productivity and may not think of going on strike."

He said some factories were currently having difficulty finding workers because they offered low wages.

Last week, four large federations representing 80 percent of garment workers in the country demanded employers and the government pay wages of $93 per month.

The Committee for Fair Wages said Wednesday that a wage of $50 a month was insufficient.

PULS Trading Far East Limited, a company that represents major international clothing brands in Cambodia including Adidas, Mike, Levi's and Gap, said it hoped that the government would persist with the exisiting wage structure while the economic crisis was hurting the garment industry. It added that it would, however, comply with a change should an updated wage law come into force.

Suu Kyi off Summit agenda

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Written by Vong Sokheng
Monday, 25 May 2009

ASEAN-EU meet will not discuss Myanmar.

A GOVERNMENT spokesperson said Sunday that the trial of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi would not be on the official agenda for an ASEAN-EU summit scheduled to be held in Phnom Penh this week.

"Until now, I haven't seen on the schedule any mention of the issue," Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the Post.
"But it depends on what happens while a summit takes place."

He also said that no official statement on Aung San Suu Kyi would be forthcoming from the government, as Cambodia had already supported an earlier statement by ASEAN.

Opposition requests talks
Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party parliamentarians said Sunday they will sign a joint statement urging the summit's bloc leaders to hold talks with the Myanmar representatives on the release of the country's political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, while expressing concern over her ongoing trial.

"I think that it is necessary for ASEAN and European Union leaders to seek approval from China, Russia and Cambodia, which have close ties to Burma's military regime, to encourage the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and to bring national reconciliation to Burma," said opposition lawmaker Son Chhay, who was also deputy chair of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentarian Myanmar Caucus.

"We will send our joint letter to the ASEAN-EU ministerial meeting on Monday, and I think that it is good opportunity to raise this issue during submit."

Capital 'cleanup' continues

Photo by: Tracey Shelton
A homeless child sits alone on Sunday on a Phnom Penh street.

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Written by Mom Kunthear and Robbie Corey-Boulet
Monday, 25 May 2009

City officials partner with NGO in sweeping of capital's streets, which groups say is part of ASEAN preparation.

CITY Hall agreed Friday to partner with the local NGO Mith Samlanh as part of a campaign to rid the capital's streets of beggars and homeless families in advance of this week's ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting, the NGO's founder told the Post Sunday.

Sebastien Marot said the partnership involves enrolling street children in a "weeklong holiday camp" in Kampong Speu province, thereby allowing them to avoid being caught up in the latest so-called "cleanup" effort spearheaded by municipal officials.

Rights groups charged last week that City Hall launched the cleanup effort early Thursday morning with the detention of 30 beggars, suspected drug users, sex workers and members of homeless families, who were taken from Phnom Penh's Daun Penh district and turned over to the Municipal Department of Social Affairs.

Past cleanup efforts have led to the detention of scores of street kids along with drug addicts and the mentally ill in government-run rehabilitation centres, though this practice was roundly vilified last year by rights groups and NGOs who said that inmates at the centres had been beaten and starved.

Marot said Mith Samlanh representatives met with two municipal officials Friday to propose the "holiday camp model" for street children, to which he said the officials readily agreed.

Though the NGO has undertaken similar efforts during past cleanups, Marot said Friday's meeting marked the first time municipal officials had agreed to get involved.

He said 50 street children had been transported from Phnom Penh to the camp in Kampong Speu - which provides food, medical services and "plenty of recreational opportunities" - and that 10 more would join them on Monday.

Sweeping the streets
Ban Vutha, chief of administration at the municipal Social Affairs Department, said the 30 people detained last week had been given the option of going to an NGO-run facility or a government-run rehabilitation centre.

"The police don't arrest them," he said. "They just collect them to educate them and take them to a suitable place."

He said the latest cleanup effort was part of a broader effort to prepare for the ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting, though Doung Socheat, Daun Penh district police chief, denied this.

Daun Penh District Governor Sok Sombath declined to comment on the cleanup effort, saying officials would discuss it in detail during a meeting at 2:30pm today at City Hall.

SRP lawyer to appear at inspection panel ahead of Bar ruling

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Written by Cheang Socka
Monday, 25 May 2009

Kong Sam Onn faces accusations he acted unethically in lawsuit against PM Hun Sen.

THE lawyer of opposition Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Mu Sochua is to appear before an inspection team at the Cambodian Bar Association today, accused of violating its code of legal ethics.

Kong Sam Onn said that he received a letter from the inspection team Friday, asking him to meet the panel Monday.

"I will go to meet them as scheduled," Kong Sam Onn said Sunday. "They told me that I am accused of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen."

Kong Sam Onn, who is representing Mu Sochua in her defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Hun Sen, was himself accused of defamation by Hun Sen's lawyer after making comments about the case at a press conference April 23. If found guilty by the Bar, he faces possible disbarment.

Bar Association President Chiv Song Hak said he had ordered the inspection team to hand over its report of the investigation to the Bar Council by Monday, although it is not clear if the team will meet its deadline.

"As according to procedure, the Bar will look into the reports first before calling its 19 council members to make a ruling," he said.

Hun Sen's lawyer Ky Tech, who filed the complaint against Kong Sam Onn, said he had not received any information about the current investigation and was waiting to see the decision.

Mu Sochua is suing Hun Sen for comments he made during a speech in Kampot on April 4, which she says refers to her as cheung klang, a phrase that translates as "strong legs".

Mu Sochua says the term has derogatory connotations when applied to women. In response, Hun Sen is countersuing Mu Sochua for defamation, claiming his comments did not refer to her.

Tourists concerned over Angor Wat lights

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Written by Khouth Sophak Chakrya
Monday, 25 May 2009

Tourists have voiced concern about an ongoing light installation project at Angkor Wat temple that they argue could alter the ancient complex's appearance and cause considerable structural damage.

The Sou Ching Co, which sponsors "Night Lighting" tours of Angkor Wat, began inserting lights into the walls of the temple late last year as part of an effort to illuminate the entire complex.

The company had previously placed lights on the ground, but these were often trampled by tourists, said owner Var Chhouda, who added that the company had spent US$12 million on lighting since 2006.

Bun Narith, director general of the Apsara Authority, which manages the temple, said those who had complained about the light installation believed that the company had been drilling holes into the walls of the temple and placing lights in them. On the contrary, he said, the holes were already there.

Effort to dispel concerns
Bun Narith said he had been receiving complaints from tourists for months. He said he convened a press conference on Saturday during which 16 journalists were allowed to inspect the lighting project.

He said the Apsara Authority and UNESCO would meet June 2-3 to "evaluate the impact of using light at night at the temple site".

SRP to expel 9 councilors over bribes

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Written by Sebastian Stragio and Meas Sokchea
Monday, 25 May 2009

THE Sam Rainsy Party is set to expel at least nine members accused of taking money to vote for CPP candidates in provincial, district and municipal council polls, a party statement said, as opposition leaders Sunday rejected criticisms that commune councilors were forced to take loyalty oaths before the May 17 vote.

The nine Phnom Penh councilors are named in an undated party statement as facing imminent expulsion.

"The SRP cannot tolerate members who are corrupt.... We need to reorganise our party's structure and reinforce the party. We don't need corrupt people," party spokesman Yim Sovann said Sunday.

In a statement Saturday, the SRP defended its pre-election ceremonies as being designed to strengthen its councilors against what it said was a concerted CPP effort to "buy" the votes of its members.

"Despite threats, intimidation ... more than 90 percent of the SRP's commune councilors showed their stance of serving with honesty and responsibility," the statement said.

The comments came in response to a statement Friday by the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, criticising the SRP's decision to conduct loyalty oaths and then expel members who voted against the party.

"Any time you put this kind of pressure on the voters, you are violating the [most] basic principle of democracy," said CCHR President Ou Virak.

But Ou Virak added that the election system - which permitted only the country's 11,353 commune councilors to cast ballots - had put the SRP in a difficult position.

"It creates the incentive for parties to do all they can to force people to obey party lines," he said.

CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said Sunday that the SRP should not expel its members for voting against the party, but added that any fired opposition officials would get a warm welcome from the ruling party.

"If [SRP officials] come to the CPP, the CPP will welcome them with open arms."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NETH PHEAKTRA

US a 'facilitator' in bid to resolve ECCC graft claims: government

Photo by: Tracey Shelton
US ambassador-at-large for war crimes, Clint Williamson, speaks to the press Friday.

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Written by Georgia Wilkins
Monday, 25 May 2009

US urges officials to tackle corruption claims, which continue to dog court.

THE government said Sunday it will work with the United States on corruption allegations at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, but insisted that the donor country did not have any power to make decisions on court policy, only recommendations.

"The US is just a facilitator ... a friend of the court," Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said.

"[It] does not have any power to make decisions, wrong or right. But, in principle, we work with all donor countries," he added.

Phay Siphan said that he was hopeful that the visiting US ambassador-at-large for war crimes, Clint Williamson, would go to the UN with positive feedback on the court, after negotiations between the world body and government failed last month to agree on an anti-corruption mechanism.

"He will go back to New York and share information so [the UN] will understand what's going on," Phay Siphan said.

Tackle corruption: US
The comments come after Williamson told reporters at a press conference Friday following a visit here that officials must address the graft issue.

"This is an issue that has to be tackled. There has to be some sort of resolution of this going forward, and I think there is agreement on both sides that this is needed," Williamson said.

Williamson added that he had been in "extensive discussions" with other donor countries, as well as meetings with UN, government and civil society officials over how best to deal with graft allegations.

Suspected child rapist arrested after flight

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Written by Chrann Chamroeun
Monday, 25 May 2009

A CAMBODIAN man suspected of raping three children and throwing them into an empty well in February was arrested Friday after returning from Thailand, where he had fled following the crime, police said Sunday.

Thab La, 34, was seized in Battambang province's Ek Phnom district, said Kuy Heang, the provincial chief of the anti-human trafficking police.

He said the suspect told police that he had raped the children before escaping to Thailand. He secretly returned to his hometown last week, but was quickly arrested, Kuy Heang said.

The children, aged 4 to 6 years, survived the attack, police said.

Kuy Heang said the incident occurred February 12, when the suspect lured the three children, one boy and two girls, onto a boat by offering them cake and money.

The man told police he then took them to an isolated area and raped them before throwing them into the well. "The suspect was sent to court on Saturday for further investigations", Kuy Heang said.

Plantation highlights struggle of development and preservation

Photo by: SEBASTIAN STRANGIO
Ethnic Phnong houses sit on recently cleared rubber plantation land in Mondulkiri's Bou Sra commune.

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Written by Christopher Shay and Sebastian Strangio
Monday, 25 May 2009

Ethnic minority community says a giant rubber conglomerate is destroying its traditional culture, as plantation officials insist that the company is bringing much-needed work to the area.

Mondulkiri Province

FIVE months after an angry mob smashed and burned machinery belonging to a local rubber company in Mondulkiri province's Bou Sra village, ethnic minority residents in the area say their culture and livelihoods remain in danger from new plantations that have displaced them from their ancestral farmlands.

"They've lost hope," said Bill Herod, an adviser for Village Focus Cambodia who works with Phnong youth in the provincial capital Sen Monorom.

"We in the West talk negatively about slash-and-burn, but this is slash-and-burn by the company."

According to an article in Science, the expansion of rubber plantations in Southeast Asia could double or triple by 2050, doing far more damage than traditional farming methods.

And while the Bou Sra plantation owners say they seek to balance their interests with those of the local communities, residents and advocates say the situation is symptomatic of the unrestrained development that is harming other indigenous populations.

Residents in Mondulkiri say more than 800 families in seven villages - the majority of them from the Phnong ethnic minority - have had plots of land taken by the rubber plantation, claiming there was no consultation prior to the granting of the concessions.

"They just came and took my land," said Umbarup Sherup, a Bou Sra village resident who said he received no compensation from the company.

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When we came to meet the company [they] said they would take the land whether we agreed to it or not.
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Another resident, who declined to be named, said the villagers were not given a choice.

"When we came to meet the company, [they] said they would take the land whether we agreed to it or not," the resident said. "Now we have nothing."

In late 2007, government authorities granted 2,500 hectares in economic land concessions to a joint venture between the local Khaou Chuly Group and the French rubber conglomerate Socfin.

In early April, Khaou Chuly Group President Khaou Phallaboth signed an agreement with Minister of Agriculture Chan Sarun granting his company a further 2,705 hectares in the area.

"We hope to receive a total economic land concession of over 20,000 hectares from the government by 2010 to grow rubber trees," Khaou Phallaboth told the Post at the time.

After clearing began last year, village representatives travelled to Phnom Penh in June to deliver a personal plea to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The dispute came to a head in December, when a frustrated group of villagers destroyed machinery belonging to Khaou Chuly Group.

"No one is happy with them. They do whatever they want, and they don't care about the people," said one Phnong community representative, who declined to give her name for fear of reprisals. "In the future, the Phnong people will die out because we have no forests."

Chith Sam Ath, executive director of the NGO Forum on Cambodia, said an investigation by his organisation found that the rubber project had led to the loss of traditional agricultural land, water supplies and spirit forests, and had impeded access to schooling for some village children.

"Socfin or Khaou Chuly [should] focus strongly on consultation with the community regarding environmental impacts and impacts on their livelihoods ... and find a solution with the community before they start their project implementation," he said by email.

When contacted by the Post, Kao Phallaboth declined to comment in detail, saying day-to-day management was in the hands of Socfin officials.

Reversing the damage
Socfin sources say that following the burning of the tractors, managerial control was assumed by their company, which says it has adopted a more conciliatory approach.

Socfin General Manager Philippe Monnin said the company was doing all it can to help the community and offset the impact of the plantations.

At Socfin's invitation, Monnin said Medicins du Monde, a French NGO, had helped construct a local hospital, and that the company hoped to bring in the French governmental development agency AFD to revitalise the community.

"Our plan is to get NGOs to work with us to take care of the community and ensure what we are doing is a model," Monnin said during an interview in Bou Sra village. "We want to do something proper, but it will not be easy."

He said that of the 10,000 hectares planned for the rubber plantation, 3,000 hectares would remain as spirit forests for the Phnong. He also added that Socfin was now conducting an environmental and social impact assessment of the plantation as part of its master plan, as well as sending an ethnologist and sociologist to study the situation.

He said the plantation would provide regular employment for Phnong. From May until August, he said, the company would double its daily manpower to 1,000 workers, who would earn 20,000 riels ($5) per day on the plantation.

Mondulkiri Deputy Governor Yim Lux told the Post that Socfin was paying US$15,000 a month in wages for local workers, and said it was providing "fair" compensation to the villagers affected by the plantation.

"The company agreed to compensate the people whose farmland was impacted, either with a plot of land or with cash," he said, but added that negotiations were still in progress.

Monnin said that Socfin, as a French company that needs to maintain a positive global image, was more vulnerable to criticism than other rubber companies in Cambodia.

"It [development] is inevitable.... If we were not here, it would be the Vietnamese, and then for the Phnong it would be the end," he said.

But many of the Phnong villagers said the Vietnamese state-owned Daklak Rubber Co, which has a plot adjacent to Socfin, has treated the Phnong more equitably.

"If people disagree with the Vietnamese company, they don't destroy the land. When the Vietnamese company does [harvest] the land, they give half [the profits] to us," one villager said.

Officials at Daklak's Mondulkiri headquarters declined to comment in detail about their rubber operations.

Too little too late
Critics of Socfin say the company's actions come too late and that irreparable damage has been done.

"Mistakes have been made by all key partners involved, including the Cambodian government and the company. ... Forest was destroyed, a Phnong graveyard was bulldozed, and [these] can't be undone," Herod said.

According to Cambodian environmental law, Herod said, an impact study should have been completed before the concession was awarded. He also noted an increase in drunkenness and other disorders related to social disintegration among the underemployed Phnong.

But despite indigenous land protections existing under the country's 2001 Land Law, villagers insist the Phnong community was not consulted.

While there is intermittent work on the plantations, the Phnong representative said the loss of rotational farmland forests meant that local communities faced an uncertain future.

"Now that the company has come here, they are very strict and will not allow the Phnong to cut wood on company land," she said. "Before they had the freedom to cut the forests and grow crops. Now they say the land is French; the sky is French."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SAM RITH

Banking sector calls for cut in reserve rate to bolster liquidity

Photo by: Sovann Philong
The National Bank of Cambodia says it has no plans to cut the reserve rate.

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

Written by Nguon Sovan and Steve Finch
Monday, 25 May 2009

ANZ, UCB and Canadia Bank call for rates cut with NBC responding that it will stay at 12pc.

SOME of the country's largest banks have called for a cut in the reserve requirement in a bid to free up capital and boost lending, a move that the NBC appeared to reject on Sunday in saying that the rate would stay at 12 percent.

The reserve requirement forces banks to deposit a percentage of capital in the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), partly to control lending and stem inflation.

"The central bank needs to slash the reserve requirement to 8 percent or 10 percent," Yum Sui Sang, president and CEO of Union Commercial Bank, said Thursday. "If the NBC reduces the reserve, it will be easier for the bank to lend funds. Every bank will benefit and we will get more liquidity."

The NBC increased the rate from 8 percent to 16 percent in July as money supply began to overheat last year before cutting the rate back to 12 percent in January when the wider economic crisis began to hit the financial system.

Because Cambodia is a dollar-based economy, the NBC cannot adjust interest rates, leaving the reserve requirement as one of the few regulatory tools at its disposal.

With inflation and economic growth continuing to slow, many bankers say a lower reserve requirement will give them flexibility while pumping liquidity into a cash-starved economy.

"I think the central bank should do it now to lighten pressure on the banks. Business is not good and people are just trying to survive," said Yum Sui Sang, whose clients are mostly garment manufacturers from Hong Kong and Macau.

"I have not heard anything about the central bank getting ready to lower the reserve rate, but if it lowers [the rate] ... it will be great for us," he said, adding that maintaining liquidity should be the top priority for policymakers.

"Our bank's liquidity is still high - 40 to 45 percent of liquidity against deposits - because our lending is about 65 percent of current total deposits of around US$90 million," he said.

Charles Vann, executive vice president at Canadia Bank, said at the end of last week that the banking industry is looking for the reserve rate to be cut "to at least 8 percent, the old [rate]".

"I think the National Bank of Cambodia is looking at this question [of lowering the reserve rate] at the moment," he said, without offering additional details. "We cannot release information about this at the moment.

In response, the NBC said Sunday it had no plans to alter the reserve requirement.

"We have not received any formal request from the banks, and the NBC is still maintaining the reserve requirement at 12 percent," said NBC Director General Tal Nay Im.

An ANZ spokesman said his bank is in line with other members of the private banking sector.

"We would welcome a rate reduction to the original 8 percent as this would release liquidity into the Banking system," James Lowrey, head of Corporate and Institutional Banking, wrote in an email Thursday. "This has been a common instrument used in many countries around the world to counter the impact of the economic crisis."

He said that the NBC is constantly reviewing the market situation.

"We understand the system of liquidity, whilst under pressure in the first quarter of 2009, the situation may have improved slightly in the past two months. However, we also believe the remainder of 2009 will be challenging for businesses in Cambodia," he said.

Vattanac Bank declined to respond to questions Thursday on the NBC's reserve rate.

John Brinsden, vice chairman of ACLEDA Bank, said that he would welcome a reduction in the reserve requirement, but added that the bank already had sufficient liquidity.

"In principal, a lower reserve requirement means more flexibility, but in practice, we are awash with liquidity.... [The reserve requirement] is something we are in ongoing discussions about, but it is not our top priority right now," he said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY GEORGE MCLEOD AND CHUN SOPHAL

Long journey to American dream

Chai Eang (above) and his brother Henry are business partners. Henry lives in Charleston and commutes to Charlotte. Chai lives uptown near their restaurant. DAVIE HINSHAW – dhinshaw@charlotteobserver.com

The Charlotte Observer

http://www.charlotteobserver.com

By Victoria Cherrie
Special Correspondent
Posted: Sunday, May. 24, 2009

Chai Eang rinses a few glasses behind the granite bar at Basil Thai Cuisine before sauntering into the softly-lit dining room to greet customers stopping in for dinner.

Each new face and each dish served highlights a dream for Eang, 38, and his brother Henry, 43, who escaped the killing fields of their native Cambodia as boys and grew up to be business partners.

Together, they own Basil Thai and Chai Lounge restaurants in Charleston, and now they've come back to their Charlotte-area roots to open a restaurant on North Church Street uptown.

Sitting in leather chairs parked at marble tables, they are a long way from their family's tiny house in Cambodia, where their parents raised nine boys and girls while operating a noodle restaurant.

They were all working there when armed soldiers flooded the Cambodian city of Tusat in 1975 and yelled for everyone to gather their belongings and “get out” because the Americans were going to drop bombs.

“We pulled whatever we could take, clothes, some rice and necessities for daily life,” said another of Chai's brothers, Sa Eang, 53.

The family loaded a pushcart and joined a massive parade of frightened people, not knowing where they were going or what would happen to them as the Khmer Rouge, under the command of Pol Pot, took control.

They traversed fields of dead bodies and then jungles before being split up by age and forced into different camps, where the older children worked for free and lived off a few tablespoons of rice a day, Chai and Sa said. Chai, who was only about 5, was young enough to stay with his parents, who grew vegetables and worked in communal kitchens.

“We worked 14 hour days, seven days a week,” Sa said. “I just remember being so hungry ... so hungry you can't sleep.”

The family was liberated when a Vietnamese invasion ended the Khmer Rouge genocide in 1978. But they were later separated when Chai, Henry, Sa and their father, Ta An, migrated with Sa's wife to Thailand without their mother, Kim Ev, and other siblings.

Kim Ev wanted to stay in Cambodia to wait for an older son who had been studying in college in a different city. Weeks later, she learned that he had been murdered by the Khmer Rouge, and she left for the Thai border, but she couldn't catch up to the boys and their father. They were separated for years.

“She had lost all hope,” Chai said.

After months in a Thai refugee camp, the Eang brothers were sponsored by a small church group from Rock Hill. The family arrived in 1980 with only their clothes. The congregation at Hopewell Presbyterian Church donated necessities and helped their dad set up a house.

“I still remember that house,” Sa said, smiling. “Three bedrooms, two baths and rent – $175 a month.”

Sa went straight to work, in a glass factory, in restaurants and then for the local housing authority while taking night courses. The younger boys, who were in grade school by then, struggled to learn English until Nancy Newton, a school tutor, took them in and made them part of her American family.

“You can't imagine the lessons they've taught us just by being who they are,” Newton said.

She and her husband, Joe, began inviting the Eangs to their home in Rock Hill for lunch, then dinner and then holidays.

The Newtons were instrumental in helping the boys have the kind of life that other kids here do, the Eangs said. They were involved in school programs, had opportunities to play sports and had a support system. “I don't know what our lives would have been like without them,” Henry said.

After high school, Chai joined the Army and became an infantryman, serving for several years before returning to the area. Henry earned an accounting degree and moved to Atlanta for about 10 years, working in numerous restaurants before returning to Charleston to fulfill his dream of opening his own.

The brothers, who both had worked in restaurants since about the eighth grade, opened Basil Thai Cuisine in Charleston in 2002. They opened Chai's Lounge and Tapas in 2005 and now continue their dream by expanding to Charlotte where, many of their Charleston customers actually live.

“I think what we went through during the Khmer Rouge gave us the will, the drive, to keep going,” Henry said. “I mean, every time you think you have it hard, you can look back and be reminded that this really isn't that hard.”

Their father died of cancer in 1998 but not before finally reconnecting with their mother and other siblings, whom they found living in Cambodia. She moved here for a while but returned to Cambodia shortly after her husband died.

Henry still lives in Charleston and commutes to Charlotte, where Chai now lives uptown a few blocks from the new restaurant.

“They truly are the American dream,” Newton said. “They came here literally with the clothes on their backs. They worked hard. And I am so proud of who they are.”

Law Enforcement – Sunday, 24.5.2009

Posted on 25 May 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 613
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

The Mirror has frequently focused on problems related to law and order – including, of course, the rights of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution, which the organs of law enforcement should protect and not curtail.

Very often problems in society do not happen because of a lack of legal clarity, but because existing laws are not enforced. Stability and happiness in a society depend, however, on predictability and general contentment, based on the notion that laws will be enforced to establish justice in peace.

In every society there are people who break the law – that is why all societies and states have developed rules how to deal with such violations of the rules. Most societies work with the concept that individuals do not have the right to break the rules or to use violence that harm others – but the state has a monopoly to enforce laws, and it is assumed that this happens regularly, as a matter of fact.

Why is it that in Cambodia, law enforcement often does not happen just simply based on an existing law, but an additional appeal or even a threat is necessary.

In 2007, traffic accidents killed 1,545 people in Cambodia. In 2008, 1,638 people lost their lives on the roads. During the first four months of 2009, already 579 people were killed on the roads. If this trend continues, the death toll by the end of the year may be more than 1,700.

There are many reasons that contribute to this tragedy, and many different measures to work against it.

A couple of years ago a rule was established that motorcycles have to have rear-view mirrors, and after a period of preparation – ? – a campaign was held for some weeks, educating drivers without such mirrors. In 2007, a new Land Traffic Law was adopted, that drivers of motorcycles have to wear helmets. The police was authorized to fine drivers in violation with Riel 3,000 [approx. US$0.75] for no helmet, and Riel 4,000 [approx. US$1.-] for no side mirrors.

But the chief of the traffic police in Phnom Penh was recently quoted as saying that fining those who do not respect the law does not seem to be very effective – a surprising statement, when one sees regularly groups of police standing at the roadside and not intervening when traffic is stagnant or congested.

Now we had a headline, saying: “Head of the Government Orders Not to Charge Money from Those Who Do Not Wear a Helmet, but to Confiscate Their Motorbikes – the Owners Cannot Take Their Motorbike Back Unless They Go with Their Newly-Bought Helmet.“ The Phnom Penh Post had more to report from the Prime Minister’s speech: “Police must keep the motorbikes, and when the owners have helmets and side mirrors, they can get their motorbikes back, and I will grant the owners one liter of petrol as an encouragement for them.”

Is change to come? This is difficult to predict, considering a report in the Phnom Penh Post:

“The general director of the General Transportation Department at the Transport Ministry, said that the ministry would re-examine existing traffic legislation to identify the articles that needed to be amended.

We think that it will take a long time to amend this law because we have to check all the articles that are being enforced before sending it to the National Assembly.”

Will change come from new, detailed legislation, or form a new approach to the enforcement of existing law? To reform road traffic, starting from a weak sector seems anyway to be an “easy way out” – one would have expected also a word about the many private luxury cars without any number plate at all, or the heavy ones with with military or police plates, driving high speed on the wrong side of the road, with headlights on, indicating that “Now get out of my way, don’t you see who is coming!”

But there is some hope.

The Prime Minister gave also also an ultimatum of two weeks to the many owners of cars with military or police number plates, who are actually using the license plates illegally for their private vehicles. Several hundred cars have been re-registered in the meantime. It can be assumed that most of the owners and drivers of these cars, mostly middle and high ranking officials, knew well that they were acting illegally until now.

These are the first steps on a long and arduous way towards a deep re-orientation of values. How complicated the related mental attitudes are, became obvious when a journalist, taking a picture of a banner announcing the advice of the Prime Minister – not to charge a monetary fine from those who do not wear a helmet, but to temporarily confiscate their motorbikes – was detained for some time, until he could convince those who had detained him, that the press law allows it that one takes a picture on a public road.

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PetroChina to Buy 45.5 Percent of Singapore Petroleum

Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com

May 24, 2009
By Chua Kong Ho

May 24 (Bloomberg) -- PetroChina Co., China’s largest oil company, offered to pay S$1.47 billion ($1 billion) for a 45.5 percent stake in oil refiner Singapore Petroleum Co. to help expand its international business.

PetroChina will buy 234.5 million shares of Singapore Petroleum at S$6.25 per share from Singapore-based Keppel Corp., the company said in a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange today. That’s 24 percent higher than the last-traded price of S$5.04 at the May 22 close. The offer, when completed, will trigger a general offer for the remaining shares.

Singapore Petroleum has interests in oil and gas exploration and production projects in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Australia and owns a 50 percent stake in Singapore Refining Co., which operates a 285,000 barrel-per-day refinery, the statement said. Keppel Corp, the world’s largest builder of oil rigs, is selling its entire stake in the refiner.

“China is accelerating its overseas acquisitions now because the global financial crisis has made overseas assets cheaper,” Qiu Xiaofeng, an energy analyst with China Merchants Securities Ltd. in Shanghai, said by telephone today.

PetroChina said it aims to make Singapore Petroleum a platform to implement its international strategy and “provide a broader foundation and stable path for development.”

Kazakhstan Acquisition

Singapore Petroleum said last month profit for the first quarter fell 44 percent to S$55.6 million on lower oil prices and impairment charges.

A mandatory general cash offer for the remaining shares in the Singapore-based oil refiner will be made if the necessary approvals are received on or before July 24, PetroChina’s statement said. Deutsche Bank AG advised the Beijing-based company on the acquisition.

The acquisition announcement follows PetroChina’s decision in April to pay as much as $1.4 billion for a stake in an oil company in Kazakhstan. PetroChina Chairman Jiang Jiemin said last month the company is buying 50 percent of AO Mangistaumunaigas through its unit CNPC Exploration & Development Co. Kazakhstan’s state-owned KazMunaiGaz National Co. will own the rest, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chua Kong Ho in Shanghai at kchua6@bloomberg.net

Mine blast kills soldier

The Straits Times
http://www.straitstimes.com

May 24, 2009

PHNOM PENH - A CAMBODIAN soldier was killed and two civilians were injured in a landmine blast near a disputed part of the border with Thailand, the military said on Sunday.

The incident happened on Saturday around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from an 11th century temple at the centre of a sometimes bloody territorial dispute between the two countries.

'The soldier was helping local people get rattan (cane used for furniture) near the border,' said Cambodian Lieutenant General Som Bopharoath, who is stationed in the area.

'The soldier died instantly. Two civilians were injured and were sent to hospital nearby,' he said.

Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the land around the Preah Vihear temple for decades, but tensions spilled over into violence last July when the temple was granted UN World Heritage status.

Seven Thai and Cambodian troops have been killed in recent months during sporadic fighting between the two sides.

The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia. -- AFP

Local authorities warn about building Preah Vihear replica

http://enews.mcot.net

MCOT English News

SI SA KET, May 24 (TNA) – Provincial authorities have warned the private sector to conduct a thorough study, including an impact assessment on the issue of Thai-Cambodian relations, before deciding to build a replica of the Preah Vihear temple in the northeastern Thai border province.

Si Sa Ket governor Rapi Pongbuphakit said he supported any constructive idea to develop the area but the idea to build the replica of the Preah Vihear temple at Pha Mor E-daeng, an area close to the stairway leading to Preah Vihear temple, needed a special and thorough study.

The issue was very important, especially in the aspect of environmental concerns and border security, he said. He added he couldn’t tell if he agreed with the idea or not at the moment.

Although the planned construction site is in Si Sa Ket’s Kantharalak district, it is not far from the Preah Vihear temple.

An international court awarded Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia in 1962, but a 4.6-square km (1.9-square mile) parcel of land surrounding it remains the subject of territorial claims by the two countries.

The disputed area, adjacent to the ancient temple, has long been a source of tension between Thailand and Cambodia.

Meanwhile, Vichit Trisaranakul, chairman of the provincial administrative organisation said detailed feasibility studies were needed. The real Preah Vihear and its history attracted tourists. He suggested beautifying the surrounding location was better than building the temple replica, close to the real temple. (TNA)

Rescued Sex Workers Find Refuge

kiletters

Founded by a former sex slave, The Somaly Mam Foundation was set up to rescue and rehabilitate victims of human trafficking. Somaly Mam blames organised crime networks, and corrupt officials, for Cambodia huge trafficking problem.

UN Chief Tours Sri Lanka War Devastation

AssociatedPress

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew over Sri Lanka's last battlefield and urged the government to let more aid reach displaced Tamils complaining of hunger and separation from their families. (May 23)

Fake drugs and resistance to bug could unleash a malaria disaster

Business Report & Independent Online

http://www.busrep.co.za

May 24, 2009

By Simeon Bennett

Saron Samnith, 14, slouches in the doorway of his family's thatched hut off a dusty track near Pailin, a city in western Cambodia. He has chills, diarrhoea and a three-day-old headache - signs of malaria.

The bout of the mosquito-borne disease, for which he tested positive, is his second in a month. The first left him comatose and close to death, before medicines curbed the attack. Coursing through Saron's veins may be the strain so dangerous that health officials - and the billionaire Bill Gates - are racing to stop it from spreading before it kills millions.

In Pailin, a flood of counterfeit pills from China and elsewhere is helping to breed a superbug that resists even the most-effective medicine. The development threatens to unleash a global malaria "disaster" and undo decades of work to reduce illness, destitution and death, said Arjen Dondorp, a Thailand-based researcher.

"It's a time bomb," said Dondorp, the deputy director of the Wellcome Trust-Mahidol University Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Programme, with headquarters in Bangkok.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) plans to defuse the bomb with a screening and treatment programme to contain and eliminate the resistant strain in and near Pailin. The effort may begin next month. The programme is backed by $23 million (R192m) from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, based in Seattle.

"There's more money put into baldness drugs than is put into malaria," Gates said in February. "Because the disease is only in the poor countries, it doesn't get much investment. You can't get the economies in these areas going, because it just holds things back so much."

The risk of failure raises what Dorndop calls a "doom scenario". In that sequence of events, migrant workers would first carry the bug to Thailand, Myanmar and India. Later, the strain would spread to Africa, which already has most of the world's malaria cases.

"We rang the warning bell in 2005 and nobody believed us," said Pascal Ringwald, the Geneva-based WHO's leading specialist in the malaria parasite's ability to resist drugs.

The doom scenario may be a decade away from materialising, giving the world time to prevent it, said Charles Delacollette, the head of WHO's Mekong Malaria Programme, which covers Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and part of China.

"We don't have many alternatives to the antimalarial drug artemisinin, to which the parasite is becoming resistant in western Cambodia, Delacollette said. "That drug should be protected."

Interpol, the international police organisation based in Lyon, France, traced counterfeit drugs in Southeast Asia to China in 2006 as part of an investigation called Operation Jupiter.

Last year, under Operation Storm, Interpol arrested 27 people in raids across Asia and seized more than 16 million fake pills valued at almost $7 million (R58.5m).

Chemical analysis of pills bought in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam found several other pharmaceutical ingredients, charcoal, and a precursor of the illicit drug ecstasy, according to an account of Operation Jupiter published in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine. Also present were spores and pollen from trees common in southern China, suggesting that at least some of the drugs were made there, the authors said.

Interpol's actions hardly dented the global market for counterfeit pharmaceuticals, which may reach $75 billion in 2010, an increase of more than 90 percent from 2005, according to estimates by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, a nonprofit organisation based in New York.

WHO says that fakes, typically cheaper than real drugs, may account for as much as 30 percent of all medicines in developing nations.

"We're talking about sophisticated, big syndicates, people who are very well organised," said Aline Plancon, the Interpol officer who co-ordinated the operations.

"It's just insane. They're making too much money, they're betting too much on the health of people. We will do it again and again."

Malaria strikes about 250 million people each year and kills more than 880 000, making it the world's most lethal mosquito-borne disease, according to WHO.

The malady is caused by a microscopic parasite called Plasmodium, which is carried in the saliva of female mosquitoes. When an infected insect bites a person, the parasites multiply in the liver before entering the bloodstream.

There they invade red cells, causing fever, chills, nausea and diarrhoea. Unchecked, the bugs cause red cells to stick to the walls of capillaries, slowing blood flow. Without treatment, sufferers can die from organ failure.

While Cambodia accounts for only about 0.4 percent of the world's malaria cases, the country is a breeding ground for strains that withstand medicines. Since the 1970s, at least three once-potent malaria drugs have failed in western Cambodia before becoming useless elsewhere in the world, according to WHO: first chloroquine and Roche Holding AG's Fansidar, then mefloquine.

Now Dondorp and other researchers say the same thing is happening to artemisinin. In a study carried out last year and yet to be published, artesunate failed to clear malaria parasites within two days from the blood of about 70 percent of patients in Pailin compared with 7 percent in western Thailand.

For now, the drugs still clear the parasites, only more slowly - a sign resistance to artemisinin-based treatments is building. While Novartis AG, GlaxoSmithKlinePLC, Genzyme Corp and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd are developing new drugs and vaccines against malaria, those products are in the early stages of development and won't be available for years.

"If we lose the artemisinins at this stage, just now when we dare to mention the word 'eradication' again, it would be a disaster for malaria control," said Dondorp, who led the study. "It would cause millions of deaths, without exaggeration."

Fake pharmaceuticals abound in Pailin, but a bigger contributor to drug resistance than counterfeiters is patients who don't take medicines properly, according to WHO scientists.

Saron's mother, Bot Yom, has lost faith in Western pharmaceuticals. She plans to rub a coin against her son's skin until it becomes red. If the disease renders artemisinin-based drugs as useless as their predecessors, the folk remedy might be just as effective.

Cambodian Rice Encounters Problems Competing at International Markets because of Price Problems – Friday, 22.5.2009

Posted on 24 May 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 613
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

“Phnom Penh: The president of the National Rice Millers Association of Cambodia said that the market for Cambodia rice is facing a crisis competing with neighboring countries, because the price of rice from other countries is cheaper than that from Cambodia.

“The president of the National Rice Millers Association of Cambodia, Mr. Tes Etda, said on 20 May 2009 that so far, the price of Cambodian rice is much higher than that of neighboring countries, especially of Vietnam.

“He said, ‘At international markets, the price of rice from Vietnam is much better than that from Cambodia.’

“Thus far, the price of normal quality rice that Vietnam sells is only US$390 per tonne, while Cambodian companies cannot sell their rice unless the price is over US$440. This high price is not because of its higher quality. The different prices for sale of both countries are due to internal affairs of each country.

“Mr. Etda went on to say that rice with the same quality, but with different prices, is a significant obstacle for Cambodia on international markets. But this is because the prices of local products are always high, and to be able to export, there are many legal steps to follow, a lot of kickbacks have to be paid, and moreover, our exporters seem not to agree with each other.

“He emphasized, ‘If we cannot first lower the price, exports from Cambodia will have market problems in the future.’

“The fact that the export of rice from Cambodia is facing a crisis like this has some negative consequences for farmers who have asked for loans from different micro-finance institutions to improve their farming, regarding the repayment of loans to those institutions, while the price of their agricultural products declines continually as the export encounters problems.

“An association in Prek Kunlong village, Kompong Tralach commune, Kompong Chhnang, told Radio Free Asia on 19 May 2009 that in the association, many villagers face demands from staff of six or seven micro-finance institutions and private banks, who urge them to sell their property in order to repay the loan that they had asked for from those institutions to invest in agriculture, when, unfortunately, now they cannot sell their agricultural products, or the prices of their products drop.

“They said that last year a bag of fertilizer of 50 kg was below Riel 120,000 [approx. US$30] and a kilogram of paddy rice was sold for Riel 1,200 [approx. US$0.30], but this year, the chemical fertilizer is cheaper, only Riel 1,000 per bag, but the price of paddy rice is 40 to 50 percent cheaper than last year.

“Regarding this problem, the president of Cambodian Microfinance Association, Mr. Huot Eng Tong, told Rasmei Kampuchea by telephone in the evening of Wednesday that what they claimed is not true.

“He recognized that recently, customers of different micro-finance institutions in Cambodia are late in repaying, but their percentage is very small, and those institutions do not order their staff to demand money from villagers as it is said above. Moreover, among more than one million costumers of micro-finance institutions, only 20% ask for loans to invest in agriculture.

“He emphasized, ‘Out of 100 costumers, we receive late repayments from one or two costumers only.’”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #4900, 22.5.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Friday, 22 May 2009

Asia govts hold key to Aung San Suu Kyi release: France

A Myanmar activist holds a portrait of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during protest outside the United Nations offices in Bangkok. Asian powers hold the key to persuading Myanmar's ruling junta to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, France's human rights minister has said ahead of key meetings in Asia this week.(AFP/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

PARIS (AFP) – Asian powers hold the key to persuading Myanmar's ruling junta to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, France's human rights minister said Sunday ahead of key meetings in Asia this week.

France and Europe have done everything that they can and it is now up to Asian governments to turn up the pressure on Yangon, said Rama Yade who is to meet with ministers from Myanmar's neighbours in Vietnam and Cambodia.

"It is obvious that the key is in Asia," Yade told TV5 Monde in an interview. "I fundamentally believe that our Asian partners can incite the junta to evolve."

Yade will represent France at the ASEM (Asia-Europe) ministerial meeting on Thursday in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi and the European Union meeting with the Association of South East Asian Nations Saturday in the Cambodian capital Phnom Pen.

The junior minister said she has asked to meet with Myanmar's foreign minister to discuss the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi, who went on trial this month for violating the terms of her house arrest.

"I will meet various Asian authorities who are the only ones capable of influencing the junta because we have done everything we can," said Yade.

EU nations have condemned the 63-year-old opposition leader's arrest and are considering tighter sanctions against the regime, but Myanmar's partners in ASEAN have not gone beyond expressing concern over the situation.

Aung San Suu Kyi pleaded innocent on Friday at the court in Yangon's Insein prison to the charges levelled against her after an American man swam to her lakeside home.

Yade described her arrest as a "pretext to throw her in prison and stage a mock trial" and accused the junta of seeking to exclude her from elections next year.

"If we were to lose her, it would be on our conscience," warned the minister.

The junta, headed by reclusive Senior General Than Shwe, has kept Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for a total of 13 years since 1990, when it refused to recognise her party's landslide victory in Myanmar's last elections.

Cambodia's Three Passengers Traveling with A/H1N1 Virus Patient Tested Negative

http://english.cri.cn

2009-05-24
Xinhua
Web Editor: LiuDonghui

The three passengers who arrived in Phnom Penh on the same flight with a woman who was later confirmed to have A/H1N1, were tested negative, a health official said on Sunday.

Their samples sent to the Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh for A/ H1N1 virus test turned out to be negative, according to the test results got later Saturday, Sok Touch, director of the epidemic disease department at the Ministry of Health, told the reporter by phone.

The three, all Cambodian-Americans, arrived in Phnom Penh from the United States via South Korea on May 17. A Vietnamese woman traveling with them on the same flight felt unwell and was hospitalized at the Incheon, South Korea, and later she was confirmed of the disease.

The Cambodian health authorities made efforts to seek for the three, and one of the old man was found in Battambang province while the two others, a father and his daughter, in Kampot province. The three passengers did not display influenza symptoms at the time of their arrival in Cambodia.

Sok Touch said Saturday that the Health Ministry has not taken isolation measures to them, but asked them to have a self- isolation, and not to visit relatives, neither to go to public places in the next seven days. Cambodia has no confirmed cases of Influenza A/H1N1 virus so far, according to Sok Touch.

Aso, Hun Sen offer condolences

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Saturday expressed surprise at the death of former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun and offered his condolences to the neighboring country.

"I was quite surprised," Aso told reporters after hearing about Roh's death, according to Jiji Press. "I would like to offer my condolences and pray for the repose of his soul," Aso said.

Yukio Hatoyama, head of the nation's main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, said in a statement: "I would like to give my sincere condolences to the bereaved family and Korean people."

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen also offered his condolences following the death of Roh who he said made large contributions to the improvement of ties between Korea and Southeast Asia.

"I don't know how to express my sadness. I express sincere, deep condolences," the prime minister told a group of South Korean reporters visiting here. "I didn't hear yet about the exact reason for his death, but I can't contain my sadness over the news."

He noted that Roh had given much aid and support to Cambodia during his presidency from 2003-2008, recalling Roh's visits to Phnom Penh and Siem Riep, home of the Angkor temple complex.

(From news reports)

2009.05.23

Former Thaksin legal adviser: UAE won't extradite ex-PM

MCOT English News
http://enews.mcot.net/

BANGKOK, May 23 (TNA) - Noppadol Pattama, a former legal adviser to Thailand's fugitive, ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, on Saturday said it was untrue that the ex-premier had asked the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to broker sending him to fight court cases in Thailand.

Mr. Noppadol said the Abhisit government is tryin to extradite Mr. Thaksin, and sent Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot to convince the UAE to not shelter the fugitive.

But the UAE is a sovereign government, and Thailand must respect its decision.

The UAE “realises that Mr. Thaksin was topped from power in a military coup which is against democratic principles,” Mr. Noppadol said.

Ousted in a coup in September 2006, Mr. Thaksin lives in self-imposed exile, believed to be in the UAE.

The ex-PM Thaksin was convicted and sentenced to two years jail in absentia for manipulative involvement in a Ratchadapisek land deal conducted by his then wife.

The ex-premier is said to have spent most of his exile in Dubai after his visa was revoked by Britain.

Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had revoked both his diplomatic and ordinary passports in an attempt to capture him.

Puea Thai MP Chalerm Yoobamrung, a recent visitor to Dubai, said the fugitive ex-PM has six to eight foreign passports. (TNA)

Thaksin exploiting UAE, Foreign Ministry says

http://www.bangkokpost.com

Bangkok Post
Published: 24/05/2009

The Office of the Attorney-General yesterday called on the Foreign Ministry to remind the United Arab Emirates that ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was exploiting the country for his own political ends. The fugitive ex-premier was using the UAE as a political base, said Sirisak Tiyaphan, executive director for foreign litigation at the OAG.

Puea Thai party-list MP Chalerm Yubamrung has told the media he had visited Thaksin in Dubai for consultations as the party was looking for a new leader, he said.

This goes to show that Thaksin had violated UAE's terms and conditions for abode which do not allow him to use the Gulf nation to pursue any political activities, said Mr Sirisak.

Thailand is trying to sign an extradition treaty with Hong Kong, a country which Thaksin was frequently visiting after fleeing Thailand to escape a jail sentence last year.

Mr Sirisak said the OAG and the ministry were planning to send officials to Hong Kong to conduct another round of negotiations on the issue. After learning about the planned treaty with Hong Kong, Thaksin decided not to enter the former British colony to avoid causing diplomatic problems between Thailand and China, which rules Hong Kong.

US Chevron Company Wants to Suspend Oil Exploration at the Khmer Sea Bottom because of the Global Economic Crisis – Thursday, 21.5.2009

Posted on 24 May 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 613
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

“The global financial crisis affects the exploration of oil and other natural deposits at the Cambodian sea bottom, and this serious crisis causes the US biggest oil company to encounter difficulties for the exploration and exploitation of oil in Block “A” and to demand the Khmer government to sign a deal to postpone the exploration license at an area of the sea 150 km from the Sihanoukville port.

“Chevron’s Asia-Pacific media adviser based in Singapore, Mr. Gareth Johnstone, said that negotiations should be continued, even though the previous deal expired in April. He added that Chevron’s deal has not yet been concluded because of the economic crisis which is affecting the oil exploration in Block “A.” But he said that Chevron is discussing with the Khmer government to postpone the license deal for Block “A.”

“The chairperson of the National Assembly’s Commission on Economy, Finance, Banking and Audit, Cheam Yeap, said that the US oil exploration company Chevron is conducting exploration on six drilling sites in Block “A” within an area of 278 km2 located in the Gulf of Thailand in the Khmer sea territory. The economic crisis causes the oil exploration to be suspend for a short period only, and things will turn to be normal soon.

“The vice president of Chevron International Exploration and Production South Asia, Mr. Joe Geagea, told a newspaper in Bangkok that a license has not been given. But Cambodia and Chevron still maintain the hope that resources extracted from the Cambodian sea bottom will be brought to the market, though the oil price is low at present and the economy is declining.

“Mr. Joe Geagea said, ‘The problem is: What can be done in order to benefit us [Chevron] and Cambodia. Therefore, we want to continue negotiating with Cambodia.’

“Before, Chevron had said that the declining oil price is the reason that motivates US based Chevron to consider suspending drilling and oil exploration in Block “A” until the market of oil improves again. But so far, the oil market has not recovered so that Chevron could continue its activities at the Khmer sea. Another problem is that there is not yet a tax agreement with the Khmer government over the income from oil if the exploitation succeeds.

“It should be noted that regarding the signing of any agreements of private companies or of foreign investors, they have to pay the government millions of dollars for new licenses or to prolong expired licenses. Therefore, there have to be intensive negotiations to request new licenses.

“Mr. Gareth Johnstone said, ‘Because of commercial reasons and of the contract agreements, we cannot give any information about the discussions.’

“Cheam Yeap tries to conceal any problem which might block the process of the oil and natural gas exploration at the Khmer sea bottom. He said that he plans to ask the government to draft three laws relative to energy resources of the Kingdom of Cambodia, like the monitoring of oil, oil taxes, and the benefits of the energy sector, as an effort to better organize the use of national resources.

“Cheam Yeap added that the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative based in London is invited to Cambodia to hold four workshops aiming to share experiences in organizing energy resources.

“Mr. Cheam Yeap said, ‘We want Cambodia to be blessed by its oil resources and not to be cursed by its oil resources like Nigeria, Chad, Venezuela, Panama, and some African countries which were poor before, and after they found oil they are still poor after they gained some benefits from natural oil.’ Cambodia still hopes that oil can be extracted from its sea bottom starting between 2011 and 2013.

“Cheam Yeap boasted that besides Chevron of the United States, there are also companies from other countries that are interested in the natural oil treasures of Cambodia, like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Indonesia, and other neighboring countries in Southeast Asia. Cheam Yeap admitted that there are some obstacles for the oil exploration at the Cambodian sea bottom, because the sea border has not been demarcated at disputed areas with Siam [Thailand].

“At present, Cambodia has already given licenses for 37,000 km2 of its sea territory, and the remaining area of 27,000 km2 is disputed with Siam [Thailand].

“It should be noted also that Chevron has already paid US$20 million to the Khmer government in exchange for the license for oil and natural gas exploration in Block “A,” the block with the most oil deposit. But this US$200,000 license [above, it said US$20 million] expired in April. Therefore, Chevron has to negotiate with the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority, with Deputy Prime Minister Sok An as the president and Te Duong Dara as the secretary general, in order to continue to get an exploration license in Block “A.”

“On Wednesday, it was not known yet whether the Hun Sen government, notorious for corruption by receiving kickbacks, requires Chevron to pay additional tax so that it can continue its license to explore oil in Block “A.” But the government seemed to be not much interested with this and just demanded Chevron to negotiate again. The negotiations simply focused on paying money to request a new license, which made Chevron release some information, which surprised journalists in Bangkok.”

Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.16, #3763, 21.5.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Thursday, 21 May 2009

UN study advises caution over dams

The Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk

AP foreign, Saturday May 23 2009 MICHAEL CASEY

AP Environmental Writer= BANGKOK (AP) — A dam-building spree in China poses the greatest threat to the future of the already beleaguered Mekong, one of the world's major rivers and a key source of water for the region, a U.N. report said Thursday.

China is constructing a series of eight dams on the upper half of the Mekong as it passes through high gorges of Yunnan Province, including the recently completed Xiowan Dam, which — at 958 feet (292 meters) high — is the world's tallest. Its storage capacity is equal to all the Southeast Asia reservoirs combined, the U.N. report said.

Laos, meanwhile, has started construction on 23 dams expected to be finished by 2010 on the Mekong and its tributaries, the U.N. said, as a means to spur development and lift the country from poverty. Cambodia and Vietnam also have ambitious dam-building plans.

"China's extremely ambitious plan to build a massive cascade of eight dams on the upper half of the Mekong River, as it tumbles through the high gorges of Yunnan Province, may pose the single greatest threat to the river," the report said.

The report went onto to say that the impacts of the proposed dam development include "changes in river flow volume and timing, water quality deterioration and loss of biodiversity."

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a regular briefing the government pays equal attention to the development of the Mekong and its protection. The Mekong is known as the Lancang river in China.

"I would like to point out that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the exploration and the protection of cross-border rivers and conducts the policy of equal attention to development and protection," Ma said.

The proposed dams would add further pressure to the Mekong, which runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The 307,000-square-mile (795,000-square-kilometer) river network is home to dozens of rare bird and marine species, including the Mekong giant catfish, and is a source of food and jobs for the 65 million people who live in the river basin.

The river and its vast tributary network already face threats from pollution, climate change and the effects of earlier dams that were built in China and have caused water levels to drop sharply on the upper Mekong.

Still, the U.N. report said for the time being, the Mekong's pollution levels were not at "alarming levels" while water shortages and conflicts over water on the Mekong have so far not emerged.

"The Mekong is in good condition at this time and can take more pressure such as irrigation development or industrial development," said Mukand S. Babel, one of the reports' authors.

The report, however, found several river basins in the Mekong that are under threat, including the Tonle Sap in Cambodia, Nam Khan in Laos and Sekong-Sesan Srepok in Vietnam and Cambodia due to increasing development and demand for water.

It called for countries bordering the Mekong to work more closely together to ensure that the region's growing population and expected economic development doesn't further strain the capacity of the delta.

"The time to tackle these challenges is now, otherwise the projected growth and development may impact on the basin's ability to meet future water needs," said Young-Woo Park, a U.N. regional director.

The world is a classroom for Brown medical student from North Providence

Providence Journal
http://www.projo.com

Saturday, May 23, 2009

By Richard C. Dujardin
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE –– Along with many receiving diplomas this graduation season, Mark Brady has his sights on making a difference in the world.

But Brady, who took a year off from his studies at Brown University’s medical school a while back to get a master’s degree in public health from Harvard, and who is set to receive both a master’s and a medical degree from Brown this Sunday, sees that difference more in terms of improving the lives of millions of people, not just a few.

After graduating from Providence College seven years ago, Brady not only did some personal things, such as hike the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, but also went twice to Cambodia, where he volunteered for six months at a hospital for children and taught courses in statistics to doctors.

His pursuits also brought him to Thailand, where he and a doctor studying at Brown addressed an international conference on HIV/AIDS, to South Africa, where he and a professor researched what patients themselves had to say about how best to allocate anti-AIDS medicines, and to Peru and Bolivia, to study better ways to diagnose tuberculosis and combat Chagas disease.

And he did all that while working toward three degrees from Harvard and Brown.

Maybe because his mother, Alice Brady, has long been an elementary school nurse in his hometown of North Providence, Brady, 29, has always had a deep interest in medicine. It’s one reason, he says, that he majored in biology at PC.

But after finishing up at the school in 2002, Brady saw a need to take a year off to travel. Cambodia seemed like a good place to start, since he had once taken a course on Cambodian history and knew a Rhode Islander who directs a children’s hospital there.

Besides, he explained in a recent interview, “Cambodia is as far away from Rhode Island as you can get. I always wanted to work in the developing world. It was one of the reasons I wanted to go into medicine.”

It turned into a worthwhile trip, turning his interest in working in the developing world into a passion.

“I realized I could make a disproportionate impact working overseas.”

For instance, even though he had only minored in math, he discovered that the physicians in Cambodia knew less than he did when it came to that subject, and he was able to help by teaching a course in statistics.

He also went on to create a computer server to help the hospital store all of its medical records, the first of its kind in the country.

But it was the overall experience that convinced Brady he should concentrate on emergency medicine — since it’s one specialty needed in hospitals all over the world.

In working toward both a medical degree and a master’s degree in medical science from Brown, Brady did orthopedic research into knee construction and “dabbled” in a number of other projects, including research in the treatment of HIV-infected children.

On his way back to Cambodia the following summer, Brady and the doctor went to the international AIDS conference in Bangkok, where they presented evidence that anti-HIV/AIDS drugs can be as effective in treating children in “resource-poor” areas such as Cambodia as in wealthier nations, provided they are administered in a timely and consistent fashion.

While cost of the HIV drugs has sometimes been seen as a deterrent to treatment, Brady said two-tier pricing by the drug companies, and the presence of less costly generic drugs made in Brazil, India and Thailand, has reduced the problem. But even more important, Brady believes, is having someone go to children’s homes every day to make sure they don’t forget to take their medicine.

Brady had already been going to Brown for three years before deciding to take a year off and attend Harvard University on a scholarship to get a master’s in public health. There, he did “a lot of number crunching” and traveled to South Africa with a professor from Harvard to try to figure out whether to spend more money on first-line anti-HIV/AIDS medicines for as many as possible, or to hold back some money in order to buy more expensive drugs for those for whom the first-line drugs don’t work.

The two decided that one way to solve the quandary was to ask AIDS patients themselves. The answer came back loud and clear — the patients felt it more important to provide the front-line drugs across the board. “Even though many of the patients aren’t literate, we shouldn’t just assume that we know better what they want.”

Before returning to Brown, Brady also went to Peru under a grant from the National Institutes of Health to research ways to diagnose tuberculosis and, in Bolivia, to combat Chagas disease, which is caused by parasites.

“I really do want to go into epidemiology because there is that opportunity to help millions of people,” Brady said while preparing for his residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, with an emphasis on emergency medicine, which begins a week after graduation.

Cambodia finds three passengers traveling with A/H1N1 virus patient

www.chinaview.cn

2009-05-23

PHNOM PENH, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian health authorities have found the three passengers who arrived here on the same flight with a woman who was later confirmed to have A/H1N1 virus, a health official here said on Saturday.

The three, all Cambodian-Americans, were found Friday, and one of the old man now stays in Battambang province while the two others, a father and his daughter, in Kampot province, according to Sok Touch, director of the epidemic disease department at the Ministry of Health.

"We have got their samples and sent to the Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh for testing A/H1N1 virus. The results would be available later today," he told reporters, adding that "the three's health are normal with no influenza symptoms now."

Sok Touch said that the Health Ministry has not took isolation measure to them, but asked them to have a self-isolation, and not to visit relatives as well as go to the public places in the next seven days.

The three arrived in Phnom Penh from the United States via South Korean on May 17. A Vietnamese woman traveled with them on the same flight feel unwell and hospitalized at Incheon, South Korea, and later she was confirmed of the disease.

Editor: Xiong Tong

California sex offender faces new charges in Cambodia

The Cambrian

http://www.sanluisobispo.com

Formerly a patient at Atascadero State Hospital, he is suspected of molesting four young boys

Sam Stanton - The Sacramento Bee

Jack Louis Sporich was living an idyllic retirement, splitting his time between a luxury condo in Sedona, Ariz., and a sprawling home he was having built in a tourist mecca in Cambodia.

The 74-year-old retired engineer appeared to have escaped his past, which included his classification as one of California’s most dangerous sex offenders, one who authorities suspect may have molested more than 500 young boys over the years.

Now, officials say Sporich, who won his release from Atascadero State Hospital in May 2004 without spending a single day in treatment, may have reoffended.

He has been charged in Cambodia with indecent acts against minors in a case involving four young Cambodian boys, according to an official in Phnom Penh whose organization helped investigate Sporich.

Cambodian news accounts of his arrest indicate Sporich denied the allegations, which included the claim he lured the children — ages 9 to 13 — to his home with toys and candies. The Cambodia Daily reported he also attracted youngsters by dropping dollar bills in the street.

He was arrested Feb. 2 and remains in custody in the tourist town of Siem Reap, according to Seila Samleang, executive director of Action Pour Les Enfants-Cambodia.

APLE-Cambodia is a nongovernmental organization that works closely with Cambodian police to target foreign pedophiles who exploit youngsters in that country, and Sporich had been under investigation by the group.

Samleang said in an e-mail to The Sacramento Bee the charges are misdemeanors punishable by a prison sentence of one to three years.

Sexual exploitation of children has been a problem in Cambodia for years, where the age of consent is 15.

Todd Melnik, the defense attorney who won Sporich’s release from Atascadero, said he knew nothing of the Cambodia charges. An e-mail to Sporich this week seeking comment did not receive a response.

Troubling history

Sporich is no stranger to charges of sex with kids.

He spent nine years in prison after his conviction in Ventura County on seven counts of lewd acts upon children under 14. Then, he was committed to Atascadero State Hospital as a “sexually violent predator” deemed too dangerous to be released upon completion of his sentence.

David Lehr, a Ventura County defense attorney who originally prosecuted Sporich, said he may have had as many as 500 victims, and he typically befriended boys through their parents and offered to take them on camping trips.

The parents frequently would pay Sporich for gas and the time he spent on the trips, Lehr said last week.

“If I had to pick from a list of former and current SVPs, he would be, by far, the first one I would be most concerned about,” Lehr said in an interview for a 2006 series of stories in The Sacramento Bee about sexually violent predators.

Sporich was released from Atascadero in May 2004, after two juries were unable to agree on whether he would reoffend, and he immediately moved to Arizona, where the only requirement he faced was that he register as a sex offender once a year.

He is not listed on the current sex offender registry maintained by the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Sporich’s case was highlighted in The Sacramento Bee’s series, which revealed it was far easier for offenders to win release from Atascadero by refusing treatment than by undergoing the lengthy treatment program designed to prevent them from reoffending.

After The Sacramento Bee’s series, lawmakers introduced a number of proposed improvements to the system and voters later that year overwhelmingly approved Proposition 83.

That measure increased prison sentences for habitual and violent offenders and did away with the requirement that sexually violent predators be allowed a trial every two years. Instead, they now can petition annually for a hearing, but the burden of proof is on them to convince a court they no longer pose a threat.

Thai intelligence probes new Cambodian army unit in Poipet

MCOT English News
http://enews.mcot.net/

SA KAEO, May 23 (TNA) - Thai intelligence officres are investigating reports that some 200 Cambodian soldiers have moved to Poipet on the Thai-Cambodian border some two kilometres from the border crossing and casinos at the frontier.

A former Cambodian soldier, now a trader in Poipet, opposite the key Thai border district of Aranyaprathet, said some 200 fully armed Cambodian soldiers had moved to Poipet and built tents behind the airport since Tuesday.

The Cambodian soldiers visit Poipet market areas at night, causing fear among local Cambodians that fresh fighting with Thailand could erupt after the Thai government had kept silent regarding the Cambodian demand for over US$2 million compensation for damage allegedly caused by heavy Thai army gunfire during the April 3 border clash near the ancient Preah Vihear temple, affecting some 300 Cambodian households.

The Cambodian Foreign Ministry earlier sent a diplomatic note to Thailand, asking for the compensation. It said that Thai artillery had destroyed 264 market stalls in front of Preah Vihear temple, affecting 319 Cambodian households.

However, Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reaffirmed that the area in question belongs to Thailand.

Cambodian intelligence reports said that army unit was assigned had come into the area as a senior military commander planned to visit there in order to map out a new military restructuring plan.

Thai military intelligence is assessing the movements of the Cambodian unit, claiming that the practice violates an agreement made between the two countries barring additional troops of either country from being posted to areas adjacent to the border. (TNA)